Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 7/11/11
 

The Food Safety and Inspection Service's denial of a petition to permit the use of low-dose irradiation on carcasses to reduce microbial contamination keeps in place a roadblock to the improved safety of meat and poultry products.

So said Jim Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation, in a statement responding to FSIS's rejection of the industry lobby group's "Citizens Petition to Recognize the Use of E-beam on Carcasses as a Processing Aid."

AMI submitted the petition five years ago, hoping that FSIS would deem the technology a processing aid and thereby eliminate a requirement to use labeling that has proved to make consumers queasy about irradiated meat.

"FSIS cites technical reasons for the denial of AMI's petition to treat carcass irradiation as a processing aid, when the petition simply asked FSIS to initiate the process of making a labeling policy change to encourage the use of irradiation technology," Hodges said.

Such technical issues would have been resolved during the rulemaking process, he said, adding that AMI will continue to work with FSIS to resolve labeling questions related to irradiated meat.

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